Catholic Review of: The Death of a Pope

A rebel ex-priest, a beautiful reporter, a counter-terrorist agent, members of the Roman Curia, a retired traditional priest, and a plot that would rock the world at its foundations; it sounds like the makings of a real page turner, and yet Piers Read failed to deliver. 

The book read more like Cliff Notes than a best seller.  Plot points were simply told rather than developed.  The test is in a jarring present tense, which according to an interview on The World Over was not Read's first choice, which never quite fits.  The plot was an interesting one, but was never fleshed out.  It felt like he was trying to keep the reader in the dark for some big twist near the end that didn't ever come and just left us feeling like we had missed the best parts of the story.

To his credit, Piers did make very interesting characters.  My favorite was actually one of the main character's grandfather who only appeared in one chapter as a background to the man himself.  However, he fails to really do much with his broad cast of characters.  He fell into the trap of telling us rather than showing us his characters.  Because of this when they do act, it is fairly predictable because we already know what kind of people they are.  And the 'theological' tensions are merely opposing viewpoints enumerated rather than fleshed out.  I understand that desire to avoid preachy characters, but there are ways to back up the Church's social doctrines without sounding like a sermon, though the priest could've gotten away with some.  By just presenting the talking points but never really defending them, they sound like they are more caricatures than characters which is an injustice to this cast.

The reading level was pretty easy, but due to content I would only recommend this for mature teens and up.

You can purchase this book here.